


If The World Was Ending You'd Come Over Right?

by AidenRamblesOn



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Post-Fall of Overwatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:00:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidenRamblesOn/pseuds/AidenRamblesOn
Summary: In the end, Jack supposed he'd always held the belief that when the world was ending, he and Gabriel would see it through together.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	If The World Was Ending You'd Come Over Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read, and it's based off a song so it's probably shit but there's some angst and some dark humor so it was fun to write. I hope it's fun to read as well.

He wasn't sure when he started waiting. But once he realized he was spending every night looking at the door, after an entire day of checking his watch, he knew he was fucked. 

Gabriel hadn't shown any hint of wanting to come back. No trace of him distancing himself from Talon, no hidden messages, no eerie feelings of a familiar gaze on his back. He'd been searching for some kind of sign that it was all a top-secret undercover mission, intelligence gathering, or even some kind of sick joke. 

But all signs point to the fact that Gabriel was really gone to the dark side, and he wasn't coming back. 

In the end, though, Jack supposed he'd always held the belief that when the world was ending, he and Gabriel would see it through together. 

He expected him to come home. 

It was silly, honestly. Jack stayed on the move, there was no such thing as home anymore. There were only temporary shelters, behind dumpsters, in abandoned apartments, the occasional old safehouse. It was in these that he really felt the ache. 

All around him, he could see memories of Overwatch, in every room that housed them away from the horrors of war. Memories of everyone he'd come to call family after his parents died. Memories of the man he'd fallen so deeply in love with. 

He shook his head, turning back to the coffee pot that was spluttering out the last dregs of bean-based sanity into a stained carafe. Hot coffee was rare these days, much less a shaded porch overlooking the sea to drink it on. 

This particular place wasn't a safehouse, per se. But when he'd gotten within 50 miles of it, he couldn't resist hiking through the night to see it again. 

If Gabriel was going to come home to any particular place, on any particular day, it was here and now. In the little two story bungalow they'd purchased together under false names, on the anniversary of the wedding they'd had right here in it's the living room. 

The sunrise wasn't as beautiful now as it had looked that morning way back when. It was overcast, beams of color just barely breaking out of the clouds here and there. The beach was still empty, miraculously. Although, he supposed he didn't expect much tourism at the end of the world.

End of the world. The absolute finish line to everything he'd ever known and loved. On the one hand, the end to his own pain and struggle, the end of the fighting, the end of war and injustice. On the other, the end of hope, as well. The end of any chance of peace, of children laughing, lovers getting married, families reunited. 

Or maybe, just maybe, he'd read all the signs wrong. Maybe the world wasn't ending, maybe he was. Maybe his time was coming to a close, and if that was the case, he was sure proud of the band of youngsters that had reformed a kind of new Overwatch. The world would need them. From what he'd seen of them, they had the potential to do more than Jack had ever dreamed of. 

He'd played with the idea of going back when he'd received the call. But he was too old now, too set in his ways. Too used to the shadows, used to working alone. He wasn't sure if he could trust anyone else to watch his back. He wasn't sure if he could risk forming tight bonds again, knowing the pain that took their place once broken. 

"You're getting lazy, Jackie." 

He lifted the mug of coffee sludge to his lips and took a long sip. He wasn't losing his touch after all, then. 

"No guns blazing, poster boy? Not even a threatening snarl? It's like you don't even miss me." 

Jack huffed. "It would be rude to kill you on our wedding anniversary. And I don't feel like scrubbing blood out of the deck. Do you even bleed anymore, Gabriel? Or do you just smoke like a dirty old charcoal grill?"

The seat next to him was suddenly full of what was loosely a person, hands the only thing truly solid as they clutched a cup of coffee between them. 

"Mostly just smoke, these days. And if you could find a way to kill me, I'd thank you for it. Although, if three buckshot shells to the brain didn't do it, I don't think you have much of a chance."

"I could kill you with kindness." 

That got a genuine laugh, and it almost sounded like the Gabriel he remembered. Deep timbre, radiating warmth that made you want to laugh along. 

"There's the Boyscout I know and love."

Only the sounds of crashing waves filled the tense silence between them. 

It was probably only a few seconds, but to Jack, it felt like it stretched on for hours. 

"Do you, Gabriel? Love me?" he whispered, eyes locked onto the ocean, afraid that if he looked to the side, he'd realize he was hallucinating the entire conversation.

"Do you want me to?"

He blinked a few times, frowning. "What the fuck kind of dumbass question is that?!" 

"Well, you haven't looked directly at me since I've shown up."  
"Because I'm upset with you, asshole. Not because I don't love you. I still wear your dumb ring, don't I?!"

Another silence. "You think the ring is dumb?" 

Finally, he looked. "First of all, Gabriel, now is not the time, and second of all, yes it's dumb it's an Onyx skull for fuck's sake, how edgy can you be?"

And now that he was looking at the love of his life, barely corporeal, his heart sank. He looked tired. He looked like shit. He faded in and out, like holding even a semi-human form was too much effort. But that trademark mischief still twinkled above the deep bags that shadowed his eyes.

Jack sighed. "I've been up all night. You can come lay next to me to make up for everything."  
"I beg your pardon? What am I making up for?"\

He pushed himself out of the chair and trudged towards the kitchen. "Are we starting at the teenage goth crisis ring or the fact that I haven't gotten laid in three years?"

"That ring is beau- wait, three years? I've been gone for five!" He heard the other chair creak as Gabriel moved to follow him.  
"Oh have you? Whoops, time must have gotten away from me," Jack snickered. 

Gabriel's footsteps sounded heavier, more real as they got closer to the bedroom. "Who did you sleep with, Jack? Was it Jesse?"  
He snorted. "Please. I've got more self-respect than that."  
"It was Ana, wasn't it? I knew you two would hook up as soon as I was out of the pic-"  
"It wasn't Ana. I don't do women. You know that."  
Another silence as they crossed the threshold, Jack sitting on the edge of the bed to tug off his boots. He looked up, and Gabriel was deep in thought. 

"Genji?"  
"Too young."  
"Torb?"  
"Too small."  
"Rein."  
"He's with Ana."  
"Shit, really? That's adorable, honestly. They're good for each other."

Jack shimmied out of his pants, made himself comfortable up on the pillows.  
"Mmhmm. You coming to bed?"

Realization dawned on Gabriel's face, and Jack smirked. 

"You made that up to get me to follow you in here."  
"Well, at least it worked. Now come lay down. I'm tired."  
Gabriel's nose scrunched up. "It's been ages since that bed set was washed, Jackie."  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Still a Princess, I see. I've been here since four am, you think I wouldn't do a load of laundry?"

It wasn't as comfortable as it used to be. Gabriel's body was chilled, and his own body ached in new places. The bed was lumpy from years of warping around nothing. But it was enough. Jack could feel the lull of sleep coming for him, slowly folding around him. 

"How did you know I would come?" 

Jack pushed himself closer to Gabriel's now solid form. "Because it's the end of the world. And I knew we would see it through together."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments, or on Twitter if you know me there. I'm always open to some constructive criticism.


End file.
